You probably know by now from my other post "Shy Molly" That my black molly has given birth to a single fry (which is resourceful and doing well lol). She is still quite round.

However, I was hoping to get a 15 gallon from someone on kijiji but by the time they got to my email they had already gotten rid of the tank. Therefore, my only option at the moment is to put my molly into the fry trap/breeder that I have floating in the tank.

...which she really doesn't seem to like. I put her in it this morning and all she does is sit at the bottom with her tail curved in towards her head. she'll sometimes swim a bit (not overly large amount of room) but mostly only when the trap floats under the filter.

Is she too big for the trap? Would it be best to release her to the main part of the tank or will should I wait until she gives birth again and then release her?

edit: how do you add pics? I have a few pics of her in the trap to show what I mean

DragonFyre14

10-26-2012 04:15 PM

Is it a mesh one with fake plants? my guppy fry love theirs. (this is the one i use Penn Plax Net Breeder at PETCO )
It has come unhooked from the side on multiple occasions (I didn't bend the hooks very well.. and truthfully it isn't the most sturdy.) and has actually become completely submerged and the fry didn't even attempt to hide. I recently had a 2 month (or so) fry in there and he was happy. I now have 6 2-3 day old fry and they seem to have fun playing in there.
I would really recommend this one. It's cheap but all the guppy fry I've ever had in there loves it.

As far as pictures go, go to advanced (at the bottom of the page) and there are a couple of different buttons at the top that use different ways to attach an image. If it is saved on your computer I would suggest using the attachments button (little paperclip)

MidnightBaelfire

10-26-2012 07:48 PM

3 Attachment(s)

I just had a small plastic one with tiny vents at the bottom and an open top. It floated around in the tank.

I ended up having to remove Yang from the trap as she stopped eating yesterday and today. She seems to have lost her roundness too. I am thoroughly confused.

For now she is in with the rest of the fish and so far she seems happy. The fry is also doing well. Boldly swimming all over the tank and only hiding when one of the mollies becomes too interested in it lol.

I added some pics to this post. Sorry for the crappy quality. I had to use my phone camera.

She spent most of her time in the trap sitting curled up like that and didn't eat.

DragonFyre14

10-26-2012 09:40 PM

Oh. thats yang? I thought it was the fry who was in the trap. Yeah the adults do seem to be cramped and often do not like the breeders trap. Also that one seems rather small. I think removing her from the trap was a good idea. Even if she were still pregnant, the trap could end up causing her to abort them due to the stress. I am a strong believer that it is always better to leave the fish in the tank (or move them to a seperate tank if you have one) and then try to save the fry afterwards and risk a few rather than try to save them all and stress out the mom.

MidnightBaelfire

10-27-2012 12:13 AM

I didn't put the fry in the trap as its just too hard to catch lol. Also, its so small, I'm afraid that I might squish it by accident, trying to move it to the trap.

DragonFyre14

10-27-2012 11:41 AM

They can be pretty hard to catch. :) I had to go catch 7 or 8 guppy fry (which by the way are smaller than molly fry). It took me a fair amount of time.

Sylverclaws

10-31-2012 12:35 AM

If you have some of those viney like anacharis plants, add that in the trap with her. They hate being in a small trap and being able to see where they -want- to go and have nothing in there with them. =) Also, add in a little aquarium salt if you haven't already, she looks a little bit under the weather. Mollies like to have a bit of salt in their tank anyways if you don't have any already, and make sure she's nice and warm. Mollies also like the temp int he tank between 78 and 80 degrees. Your guppies should be fine with all that as well, they also like a little salt and warmer waters. Unless you already have all this done, I'd say she needs to be out of the trap until she gives birth again. Regardless, it would be good it you can fit some plant matter in there. Also, you can push the trap against the side of the glass and it should stick to it, mine does. It'll be better if the thing doesn't move around and go under the filter, it just disturbs her and it may clink against the side of the tank which she will hate. I have mine on the opposite side of the tank from my filter where the water movement still hits it, but not full on. That should be good enough. =) And if she seems stressed, have the lights off more often than on.

Since her tail is curled like that, she may be sick. Clenching can be a sign of stress or regular discomfort too, but it can be other things, so you'll want to look into that. The most common reason for tail clenching I have discovered in pregnant mollies is: They tend to get constipated quite often. They can also get babies stuck, which she may have since she only had the one baby not long ago and hasn't had anymore. However, I've had mollies do this and not have one stuck, they just decide they aren't ready and hold them for longer. Try giving her some cooked fresh peas. Heat them in water until they've softened up, cool them off and feed them to her without the skin of the pea. That's hard to get through, though they will, it's better just to give them the meat. See if she'll take to that. It'll help her if she is constipated or having another stomach issue. Those are good for her to eat too, so you can feed her cooked peas often, I feed my girls peas every other day to keep that particular issue under control. Although it still happens, it is just a lot more rare. =)